I have been here in Ireland about 4 weeks. I have had a couple friends come visit me here. I have joined a cha-cha/salsa class. Some of the people I work with are on holiday. I haven’t really been able to join a church yet for a variety of reasons (mostly having to do with awkward transportation troubles when I first got here) – I visited a couple but none of them know me yet. So I don’t really have friends here. I was invited by one of my co-workers who is away on holiday to an event in the city: prayer, … Continue reading My Friday Night All by Myself

I love this.  It is the one website I use almost every day.  http://www.fitnessmagazine.com I get an email from them nearly every day about something useful: healthy eating, new exercises, old exercises, how to train for a half marathon, how to do krav maga as a workout, how to keep the training varied, playlists, sun safety tips.  It is brilliant.  Not fad ish. All the dieting and exercise tips are real and based on real exercise and science and not the latest quack fad on you know, “cutting calories to 500 a day and hoping to gain muscle mass.”  When … Continue reading Big up to Fitness.

#13 Redemption  Redemption follows along closely with forgiveness. I don’t know how it works exactly, but I know it’s true. It is the old magic that Aslan was talking about in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in CS Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia. Redemption is one of the most beautiful things in the world. We need it. All of us. Redemption takes what is broken and makes it whole again. It “redeems” something good out of the shittiness. Can I say that? I wrote “horribleness” and it didn’t quite sound right so I wrote shittiness. Sorry. That’s crass but you know when you get to … Continue reading

#11 Conflict  I used to go hide in the bathroom when I needed to cry at school. It wasn’t often but I thought you had to be strong. I didn’t want people to see me cry. I hated conflict. I am sensitive. I hate seeing people angry at one another. I hate people being angry with me. I had not seen conflict modeled well. Anger was often explosive from one party or passive aggressive from another. So my way of dealing with it was to avoid it. Lots of tears in private, but never addressing the party who hurt me. Then … Continue reading

Okay that is an awkward/controversial/cuts to the bone title. I know. I am very consciously aware that to some of my readers it’s just politically incorrect, to others it’s stupid because you have told me a million times God lives in my head and to others it is deeply personal because you’ve experienced a lot of pain in life and it affects your view of God. Some of you are very angry at him for that pain and others don’t even believe because of that pain. So why am I saying this? Those of you who know me, know I … Continue reading #8b God does not owe us a pain free life

On Friday Iran’s Ahmadinejad said publicly again that Israel’s Existence Was an Insult to All Humanity. This goes along with his threats to their continued existence and denial of the Holocaust. Okay. I have been to Auschwitz. I have met survivors. I have friends who’s relatives died in the Holocaust. But hey, some people you can’t argue with. Whatever your thoughts on the politics of the middle east. And as a foreigner, I am willing to say…. hands up.. painful and complicated. I do not pretend to have all the answers. I was reminded of a very different set of … Continue reading Hate and Love

My journals are filled with bits of everything: thoughts, tears, prayers, reflections, feelings, sermon notes, poetry and the beginnings of song lyrics.. and very random sketches.  I thought I’d lend you one. Thank you iphone4 and the Awesomeize camera app! 🙂  Continue reading Bit of sketching

I have no problem writing. I write a lot. The two things I find difficult in writing are #1 the vulnerability of it. How can you write and say what needs to be said- and not be a share too much person? You know the kind. The people you cringe at when you read their Facebook status. The too-much-info people you wonder: “shouldn’t you be sharing that with a close friend and not with the whole world?” It just feels.. Awkward. But then there is this sense you get with some writing that has vulnerability to it, that it gives … Continue reading How To Not Be a Weirdo (but be honest)